AirMedia board doubles stock buyback to $40M

AirMedia Group Inc. said Wednesday that its board approved doubling its existing $20 million stock buyback program to $40 million and extending the program by one year to March 20, 2014.

The news sent AirMedia's U.S.-listed shares up 9 percent in afternoon trading.

The Chinese company, which runs advertisements on TVs at airports, said the other terms of the share repurchase program remain the same.

As of Sunday, AirMedia had repurchased 4.3 million of its American depository shares for $13.1 million, leaving it with an authorization of $26.9 million under the expanded stock buyback program.

AirMedia said it plans to fund the buybacks with its available cash.

AirMedia shares rose 16 cents, or 9.1 percent, to $1.91 in afternoon trading. Over the past year, the company's shares have traded between $1.33 and $4.01.

Since the beginning of this year, AirMedia shares have lost about 47 percent of their value.